


Strange Luxury

by QuailiTea



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Absent Parents, Child Neglect, Double Drabble, Gen, Parentification
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 06:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13757898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuailiTea/pseuds/QuailiTea
Summary: Inspired by this month's quote: “I’m not used to being loved. I wouldn’t know what to do.” — F. Scott FitzgeraldJane and Anna don't have the usual mother-daughter relationship. But, Jane keeps it working, most of the time.





	Strange Luxury

There aren’t many times that Jane cries, even when she feels the tears collecting inside, as if they were trickling over her bones. She’s been in charge for ages, since she’s been old enough to realize that Mum isn’t well. True, she had a father once, but he passed in the War, and Mum won’t talk about That One for long. Jane’s the one who keeps track of the money when the mending brings in shillings, and the one who writes the landlord when it’s only pennies and they need a few more days. Mum does that, Jane does everything else, from sweeping the floor to assuring that the cannisters stay in the same order so Mum’s rearranging won’t devour the day. She brushes Mum's hair on days she can’t leave her bed, then brushes her own only after she’s soothed Mum to sleep. Women all have children, she reasons. Hers just happens to be the mother who birthed her. When things get bad, then get worse, Jane has to shrug her shoulders and carry on. Tears are the child’s indulgence. 

When Miss Fisher comes along, Jane's tears, she suddenly finds, are safe to come out. What a strange luxury.


End file.
